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52 weeks of Maremma Sheepdog Kit

Crate Training Challenge
I am sooo in love with my new puppy. I saw several threads talking about crate training including a revived old thread. I figure this is a common problem with LGD. My last dog couldn't be crated. She hated it so we never bothered. The first night we brought Kit home my husband crated her in an plastic puppy crate for our Goldendoodle which is exactly her size. She screamed all night and he had no sleep. Kit's whining was so bad that my husband didn't sleep for the whole night and got sick the next day. I think it is also due to the traveling. We flew 3 hours and then drove 6 hours round trip to get this puppy from one of the best breeders in the country. The traveling really wears you down. I also wanted to mention she just turned 8 weeks old so she is exeedingly young. For the first two days, I just let her sleep in our bed. I figured the whole expiernece of leaving your siblings and mom must be traumatizing for anyone so she sleep at the foot of the bed. She wiggled and whinned slightly but was mostly good on the bed.

Today is day 6 with Kit and Kit barely wants to leave her crate. How did this happen? It can totally be done. I put her in a crate with my Goldendoodle who was crate trained when we got him. She bonded to Lucky very quickly and they hit it off. They eat together, sleep together, and play together. It is adorable. He taught her that toys are meant to be chewed on. I figured if he could manage that, maybe he could teach her to like the crate. I put her in for 5 min and she whinned a little and then settled down. I also feed her in the crate by herself and she no longer whines. She sleeps there with Lucky at night and she doesn't whine at all. She sleeps peacefully on top of Lucky or next to him. I usually have the door to the crate open during the day. Today I actually saw something truly surprising. These two actually went inside by themselves to take a nice nap snuggled up to each other with the crate opened. Just like human babies, puppies learn by example. I thought haveing two puppies would drive me nuts but it turned out to be insanely helpful. It does help that Lucky is 8 months older and already has his CGC and advanced training. I've gotten a lot of warnings against having two puppies but it seems like it is totally doable and beneficial. Lucky isn't lonely anymore and he has become the most wonderful brother.

Today is day 6 with Kit and Kit barely wants to leave her crate. How did this happen? It can totally be done. It does help that Lucky is 8 months older

As I said, raising a pup with a resident older dog is TONS easier than raising a pup as an only child. Even then, you got lucky that you have a pup that is willing to take the crate. Since I started crate training, I've tried it with 5 pups (3 of my own and 2 fosters). The 3 males took to the crate extremely easily, none of that whining all night stuff. Each pup simply accepted the crate. With the first two the crate wasn't even in our bedroom. With the 3rd male pup, my current one, Ren, we have his crate in our room. The two females were HORRIBLE, hours upon hours of screaming every.single.night for a couple of weeks until we gave up. I don't think it's a gender issue though. We just happened to have had two very willful bitches. The personality of the pup determines how much sleep one loses over crate training...

For the first time we are raising a pup as an only child. Being the sole universe of the pup's entertainment 24/7 is hard work. I severely limited his appearances in public until he got his second set of shots. So from 2 months to 3 months, he spent 99.9% of his time at home. Ren is pretty easy going and actually listened to us from the very beginning. Even then, it was still tons of hard work to get through the last 3 months. He is fully 5 months old today.

I am the only child and i got to be honest it sucks. It was a lonely childhood but I keep having friends tell me that having a sibling isn't all that great. I see Lucky and Kit play and I think it looks wonderful. When I have children it is definitely not going to be one. Today I take Kit to the farmers market for a short period of time. I would like to socialize her to different groups so people and environments.

Does anyone recommend a natural chew for puppies that is natural and long lasting? I currently have nylabones and bully sticks. The nylabones don't taste good enough and the bully stick does not last long enough.

I had a lot of luck with Yak Milk Bones, they are good for the dog, and last a good long time with younger dogs. One of my dogs does not like them at all, but Apollo sure did. I also soaked rope toys in water and froze them for him to chew on when the teething was really bad. Also there are cow hooves, those last a long time and will hold the pups attention, however my go to was 4 inch long fresh femurs that I got at the butcher. There is still scraps of meat left and of course the marrow is in the bone as well. I would however caution that the marrow can loosen stool somewhat so I would give that for a short amount of time to limit the amount of marrow injested. Antlers are also incredible. I also stuffed a kong with high quality kibbles, then capped it off with cream cheese, and froze it for a few days so it was very hard, that would keep his attention for a good long time and snuck in an extra meal. I had to help him gain back lost weight from parvo, so I would limit that as well.

Thank you for the recommendation. I am gonna get the himalayan yak. I have a good feeling about this. This puppy is obsessed with water and thinks of it like a treat. I give her water on a schedule several times a day but she loves it. I brought her to a large fountain next to my house to socialize her because my doodle doesn't like pools or water at all. Little Kit tried to jump into the fountain. I was a bit concerned if I wasn't feeding her enough water but her pee is clear. I wonder if puppies all love water because they have fast metabolisims.

I wonder if puppies all love water because they have fast metabolisims.

I think you just got lucky. A couple of mine did and a couple thought they'd melt if they got a toenail moistened. Kit probably needs her own baby pool so she can go kibble bobbing. A favorite of Ru when she was a puppy!

Another question: I've had a dog that the Pyr rescue told me was a Maremma but I had no certainty becasue I didn't know her breeder. I just know she was 70lbs no double dew claws, straight tail, and very aloof in personality. I did trust the president of the florida pyr club. So I've noticed something about Kit that I've seen in my former Maremma. She moves in her sleep and make these bubbly noise. I've never seen another breed do it and I have three other dogs. It is quite adorable. So my question is: Is leg movment and making sounds common to all livestock guardians including the Great Pyrenees or maybe just Mareemas or maybe just a lucky coincidence?

I only have LGD breeds so can only tell you that all mine (Pyr and Kangal) do this. Sounds differ on cuteness scale. Tyro growls a lot in his sleep and makes his sisters open their eyes to see what he's complaining about! We like to joke that the girls chase bunnies in their sleep and Tyro chases snakes...!